The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring

Best nonfiction I've read...

I couldn't put down this book. The characters are real people, their explorations are amazing, and their toughts about ecology and our planet are very relevant. Read the book before the redwoods disappear. Reads like the best mystery fiction!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Amazing Book for Tree Lovers!

I just graduated college as a landscape architect. i learned about trees 'on the east coast' and began to have a passion for them. After reading this, I want to go to the North West and experience all these humungus trees myself. The book also clarified some plant physiology I 'learned' in school. The author did a great job of getting the reader into the story as well as the beauty of untouched nature.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The trees come alive.....

This book is a wonderful story about much more than trees. The author weaves a tale of discovery that ventures into nature and the human soul. The description of the trees and the makeup of the canopies is fascinating. The stories of the lives of those told by the author are very good as well. A very good read!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A miniature world thriving in the bosom of giant sequoia trees, hidden from human eyes

Combining the splendor of nature with the magic of his mechanical pen, the Richard Preston has written a book filled with thrilling adventure and charming anecdotes. Written in mellifluous prose with exceptional clarity, parts of the book read like a meditative literary novel. And some parts read like a horror novel also, full of scary situations. This book will make you shake your head with awe, and fill your heart with a renewed respect for all living things in nature. With the publication of The Wild Trees, Richard Preston has added one more magical book of nonfiction to the impressive list of books he has written. This book, an exploration of the miniature world of the giant sequoia redwood trees of northern California, will imprint on your mind an indelible picture of the bounteous nature. These gentle behemoths, the largest and tallest living things on our planet, the ¿blue whales of land¿, are awe-inspiring indeed. But they are also fragile, says the author. The largest of these trees has a thirty feet wide trunk, and it is more than three hundred fifty feet tall. The author explores the world of these wild trees with the help of Steve Sillett and Marie Antoine, a couple, both of them botanists, and Michael Taylor, a son of a wealthy real estate developer, and a small group of botanists and amateur naturalists. This book will open your eyes to the grandeur of these trees. And it will show you the small world of insects, mosses, lichens, spotted salamanders and other small animals, ferns and plants and bushes such as huckleberry and even small trees, all living and thriving on the branches and trunks of these giant sequoia trees. Exploring the canopy of these wild trees is an arduous task indeed to climb a tree one must carry a heavy load of very long ropes and climbing gear. The author took lessons in climbing a tree at a tree-climbing school in Atlanta. While we can all rejoice that quite a few of these sequoias are allowed to live for now in Northern California and also a couple of other parts of our country, we should always remember that ninety-six percent of the ancient redwood trees have been felled by the logging industry. What are left, writes Richard Preston, are 'like a few fragments of stained glass from a rose window in a cathedral after the rest of the window has been smashed and swept away.' I wish to say a few words about the lovely cover of this book. At one time or another, all lovers of books have heard the refrain: Don¿t judge a book by its cover. Occasionally, however, there appears a book with a jacket so gorgeous and befitting that it not only mirrors honestly the book¿s content, but also imparts the book with a soothing shelf-appeal, just as a lovely landscape imparts a house curb-appeal. Read this book to experience the joy of reading.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Not the book for me

I just can't get past the first few chapters. Hoping it gets better, but just way too descriptive and boring for me, so far. I've been reading other books, in between, to break the monotony. Sorry!

Great book

Good,,,
You will want to climb after you finish reading

Absolutely fascinating

Richard Preston is one of THE best science writers and Wild Trees is another winner. It's obvious there's been elaborate research, proven as he writes about cutting-edge discoveries regarding the upper canopy. But it's not all science! He weaves compelling human stories throughout that keep you turning pages. This book encouraged me to make a trip to Northern California and see the redwoods for myself.

who knew trees were so cool?

this book is written extremely well. it really gives you a sense of the whole experience of climbing redwoods and other tall trees. i appreciate that the author did not leave out the cons about this sort of exploration. it is important that people know how dangerous it is. it does get alittle wordy and over technical, in the chapters the aurthor writes about himself, to a novice like me. but i think you will enjoy it.

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